How to Improve Mailchimp UX When Combining Lists

I love Mailchimp as a company. Its friendly design, industry-leading content style guide (and UX guides), and commitment to great ideals make it a service I’m happy to pay for.

Sure, some other mail platforms might be a bit more robust. But I think Mailchimp is the usable solution that most small businesses should start with while they grow. (Case in point: I used Mailchimp to grow a dog treat business from $3k/mo to $40k/mo in revenue – email ftw!)

It’s with this admiration for the Mailchimp team that I’d like to share some opportunities for improvement I saw this morning.

UX Copy Tweak for Combining Lists

This morning, I combined 20 separate lists into one big list. Though the process was simple when I figured it out, the UX copy was a bit confusing.

Here’s the message you get when you select a list, then click “Combine lists”:

Then, when you choose which list you’re combining with, you get this message:

Seems simple enough.

But here’s the problem: to me, the copy indicates the list you’re initially combining is the destination list and that you’re importing the second list into the main one.

Here’s what I assumed would happen:

• Click “Combine lists” on List A
• Select List B as your other list
• After confirming, List B’s contacts are moved into List A

However, here’s what actually happens:

• Click “Combine lists” on List A
• Select List B as your other list
• After confirming, List A’s contacts are moved into List B

It’s the opposite of what I expected! Since I chose “Combine Lists” on List A, I thought that would be treated as the “main” list and serve as the destination for the combination.

Once I figured this out, it wasn’t a problem. (Ultimately, all of my contacts would have ended up in the same list no matter which order I took, I think.)

But it took me a few tries to get it right consistently.

Let’s improve this!

With a slight copy revision, I think the process becomes more clear:

With this wording, I think it’s clear what’s happening to the contacts. List A is moving its contacts to another list, not receiving from List B.

And another tweak on the confirmation screen to clarify what’s happening:

I know – the confirmation screen is slightly more wordy. But I think the enhanced clarity is worth the extra sentence.

With this change, I think yet another Mailchimp function could become frictionless. 🙂

Auto Create Segments when Combining Lists

The next suggestion isn’t so much UX copy as it is a feature request:

Can we auto-create segments when combining lists?

Using the example above, I’d love it if, after combining List A and List B, I had a segment for List A’s contacts in my newly combined list.

This way, I could still easily message individuals on the List B segment for more personalized messages. I could also send out an email to all my subscribers on the list without using multiple campaigns.

Just give me a checkbox that says “Create ‘List A’ segment in the destination list.”

Since email segmentation is becoming more and more important for marketing personalization, I think lots of users would love this. (Plus, it would get more users putting segments into action.)

These are just thoughts based on no data other than my personal observation. Maybe you’ve already thought about these things, tested, and ended up with the current UX.

But if these solutions are helpful, you’re free to use them. Just send me an email if you have any questions.